Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret, a consummate entertainer, has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, won five Golden Globes, won an Emmy, and received five other Emmy nominations. She is a three-time winner of the “Female Star of the Year” award and has been twice honored as Outstanding Box Office Star of the Year by the Theatre Owners of America. Ann-Margret was also nominated for a Grammy for her 2001 album God Is Love: The Gospel Sessions.
Ann-Margret has performed at the White House, received presidential citations for entertaining the U.S. armed forces overseas, and was honored by the USO Board of Governors. During the Vietnam War, Ann-Margret and other entertainers teamed up for a USO tour to entertain U.S. service members in remote parts of Vietnam and Southeast Asia. She still has a great affection for veterans and refers to them as “my gentlemen.” She has even given a royal command performance for the King and Queen of Sweden.
As a young girl, Ann-Margret was discovered by the legendary George Burns, and since her film debut playing Bette Davis’s daughter in Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Ann-Margret has
made over 55 films, including such hits as State Fair (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Stagecoach (1966), Carnal Knowledge (1971), Tommy (1975), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995).
Her two Academy Award nominations were earned for director Mike Nichols’s film Carnal Knowledge and the classic Ken Russell rock film, Tommy.
She has also costarred with such luminaries as John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kirk Douglas, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, and Walter Matthau, among others.
Ann-Margret starred with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin in New Line Cinema’s Going in Style (2017).
She costarred in the Oliver Stone movie Any Given Sunday (1999) with Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz. Her Showtime movie, Happy Face Murders (1999), was the highest rated original movie for fifteen months. She also appeared in a two-part episode of Showtime’s highly rated series Ray Donovan.
Ann-Margret won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama for NBC’s highly rated series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and she received Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild nominations for starring as the legendary Pamela Harriman in the Lifetime film, Life of the Party (1998). She guest-starred in a three-part episode of NBC’s award-winning series Third Watch, as well as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She costarred in Old Dogs (2009) with John Travolta and Robin Williams, and in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008) with Bryce Dallas Howard.
Her television career has been equally impressive, with brilliant dramatic performances and Emmy nominations for Who Will Love My Children? (1983), A Streetcar Named Desire (1984), The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987), and Queen (1993).
Ann-Margret recorded the main title song for the DreamWorks film, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).
She has also starred in many of her own television specials including The Ann-Margret Show, From Hollywood with Love, Dames at Sea, When You’re Smiling, Ann-Margret Olsson, Rhinestone Cowgirl, and Rockette: A Holiday Tribute to Radio City Music Hall.
As further proof of her popularity, her 1994 autobiography, My Story, reached the New York Times Best Seller list a week after its publication.
Ann-Margret starred in the production The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which traveled coast-to-coast, touring 39 cities and grossing over $32 million. She recently starred in the feature film Queen Bees (2021) with Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Jane Curtin, and Loretta Devine. She has recorded an album of her favorite rock ‘n’ roll songs from the ‘60s to the ‘70s for Cleopatra Records that will be released as a collector’s vinyl edition.